JARED'S POV:

I watched as Anna's eyes avoided me, dropping to the grey carpeted floor as she nudged the children towards their parents, waving at them, forcing a smile onto her lips, one that clearly didn't reach her eyes.

She had already suspected that Gia was my girlfriend when we had last visited, and although I had denied the suggestion, to Anna, it could have easily been a lie.

I could be a sleezy womanizer who enjoyed flirting with anything with a heartbeat despite the fact that I was in a relationship.

I could tell she was disappointed as she turned and began to make her way back down the corridor, the sound of her lanyard clattering against her keys making me sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Gia muttered, and I waved her concern away, taking a look at the receptionist, ensuring she was distracted talking to a parent, quickly wheeling my way down the corridor, following Anna.

I heard her clear her throat awkwardly as she turned to me, chewing on her lip, smiling at me, clearly putting on a professional face and acting as she would to any guardian of a child she cared for.

"Sophia will be out soon," she spoke, entering an empty classroom, beginning to make her way around the tables and clean up, grabbing the array of crayons scattered among the table and setting them back in their assigned trays.

"I know, I wanted to see you though," I spoke, and Anna gulped, turning around and cocking her head at me, looking anxious.

"Parents aren't allowed in the classrooms without permission," Anna stated, turning away again and tucking all of the chairs underneath the large table in the middle of the room, the metal scraping against the tiles floor, making me cringe.

"Good thing I'm not a parent then," I said, and I saw Anna freeze, a small smile making its way onto her face as she spun around to face me, narrowing her eyes.

"Why did you want to see me?" she questioned, and I smiled, flashing my teeth at her.

"Because you intrigue me," I said, causing Anna to turn a little red, picking at her fingernails.

"I'm sure Gia is waiting for you outside."

Hearing the mention of Gia's name, I exhaled loudly, wheeling myself further into the room.

"Anna, Gia isn't my girlfriend. She's my sister's best friend."

Anna nodded, and I could tell that she was getting frustrated with herself for getting so jealous when we didn't even know each other, her human brain unable to contemplate why she was feeling the way she was.

But, I wanted her to know that she shouldn't be ashamed for feeling uneasy with Gia touching me. I would feel the same way if I was her, the idea of an unmated male touching my mate making me squirm in my chair. I didn't like the idea.

"I'm sorry," Anna said, shaking her head and laughing, chewing on her lip. "This is so rude of me. It's very unprofessional for me to be acting this way towards a guardian of Sophia. Your relationship status is none of my concern."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "You don't need to apologise."

"How is work going?" Anna asked me, clearly trying to change the subject, and I cleared my throat, scratching at the back of my head.

I had told her I was involved with marketing yesterday, panicking when she had asked me what I did for work, so this was now something I had to roll with until I could tell her what I really did.

"Stressful like usual," I replied, and it wasn't a lie. As much as I enjoyed planning the training regime for the fighters, every fighter needed to improve on something different, so I had to make each one of them a slightly different rota. It took up a lot of my time, hence why the pay was so good.

But, overall, I enjoyed it.

It gave me a purpose within the pack.

"How are you finding working here so far?" I asked, and Anna shrugged, laughing.

"I love it, of course," she said, sighing. "They just expect a lot of me and I feel like I can't deliver. It's hard to get settled."

"I've seen the way you interact with the children though, you're great," I assured her, Anna blushing slightly and cracking her knuckles, a nervous habit it appeared we shared.

"Yeah, I've just moved here and all my family live hours away, so it can be kind of lonely sometimes. I feel like the only socialisation I get is here at work."

Hearing that Anna was struggling made my heart ache, and I wanted to ask her if she wanted to possibly spend some time with me.

However, I was worried that that was too forward, especially since this was only our second meeting. I didn't want her thinking I was some weirdo. I couldn't rush into it.

"Oh, well-"

"Jared!"

I turned at the loud high pitched voice, seeing Sophia standing in the doorway to the classroom, her hair pulled back into a neat bun. She was dressed in her favourite pink and white co-ord, the outfit a little ghastly for my taste, but she insisted she looked like a popstar in it.

"Sophia, don't just-" Gia called, running up after her and huffing, placing her hands on her hips and sending me an apologetic look, causing me to smile at her.

"Don't worry about it," I muttered, patting my lap, insisting that Sophia came and sit on my lap like she did most days, and she squealed, clambering up onto me and perching herself on my legs.

"Hi, Anna," Gia said smiling, waving at my mate, and Anna quickly responded, waving back, her face looking a little embarrassed, and I could tell that Anna hoped Gia hadn't noticed how upset she had looked when she saw her hand on my arm.

"I should probably get back to work," Anna muttered, smiling at Sophia, flashing her perfectly white teeth. "I've got so much to clean up. Today was painting wasn't it, Sophia?"

"I painted a wolf!" Sophia yelled, and I widened my eyes at her, Gia moving forwards to try and stop Sophia from pulling the painting from her sparkly pink bag, however, Sophia already clutched it in her tiny hands, showing it off like a proud mother.

"That's lovely," I said, laughing awkwardly, watching Anna's reaction very carefully.

The painting was hard to make out, but you could roughly see the outline of fangs, ears and large paws, the large blob coloured a reddish brown colour, with bright yellow circles for eyes.

"It's Daddy," Sophia laughed, causing Anna to furrow her brows in confusion, and I took the picture from her hands, folding it up and stuffing it back into her bag.

"Right, we better go," I said quickly, frustrated that Anna's and my conversation had to be cut short, but Sophia was starting to spill, and although she was just a child and nobody would believe her, we didn't want her continuing to tell everyone about how her family were werewolves.

"It was good to see you guys," Anna said, fiddling with her fingers, and Gia looked at me, furrowing her brows, looking guilty.

"Anna, we are having a party tomorrow if you wanted to come!"

I widened my eyes at Gia's sudden statement,, looking at her with shock, my teeth grinding together.

We were certainly not having a party, but I gathered that Gia had heard Anna mentioning how she didn't know anyone around here and was feeling lonely, and decided to take matters into her own hands, knowing that I would have taken a much more subtle approach.

Anna opened her mouth to speak, no words coming out, and I could tell that she was unsure on what to say. She looked rather surprised by Gia's invitation.

"Oh, um, I'm not really a party kind of person, but thank you," she said, shrugging, looking guilty for declining Gia's offer, her eyes flashing to mine, and I tried to hide the disappointment in my face.

I understood why she said no, but hearing her decline the offer did make me wonder if she would actually be interested in seeing me outside of her work.

Amelia and I had met at a party, and she went on to kiss Dean in front of me, the memory filling my mind and making me grimace.

She had also left the evening of Dylan and Clara's party to celebrate the merging of their two packs, throwing a fit when I admitted that I no longer wanted to pursue our relationship, having had enough of her messing me about.

I didn't want the same to happen.

I just didn't seem to have the best of luck with parties.

"I mean, it's not really a party," assured Gia, smiling. "Just a social gathering with some food and a few drinks. You are more than welcome to come if you'd like. It's going to be pretty relaxed."

"That's very nice of you, thank you," Anna replied, nodding, and I cocked my head at her, smiling.

"Was that a yes?"

"I guess I could come for a little bit," Anna responded, her eyes glued to mine, and I could practically hear her heart beating out of her chest.

"Perfect, take Jared's number and he will text you with the details," Gia told her, sending me a wink as Anna was pulling her phone out of her pocket, taking a hold of Sophia's hand and helping her off of my lap, leading her out of the classroom and down the hall back to the reception.

Gia really was a good wing woman.

Taking Anna's phone from her outstretched hand, I punched in my number, handing her mine and waiting for her to do the same, and I could tell that she was uneasy, her eyes peering around the classroom door in angst.

"Sorry, I'm just not supposed to have my phone out during work hours," she muttered, shoving hers back into her pocket, shrugging.

"I won't tell, I promise," I said as Anna looked at the clock above me, and I could tell that she was panicking after realising how much she had to clean up in such little time.

"Do you need any help?" I asked her, wheeling myself over to one of the round wooden tables, collecting all of the spare pieces of paper and piling them up. I placed them neatly back in their spots, copying how Anna had presented the other tables she had finished clearing.

"That would be really helpful, thank you, Jared" she claimed, her eyes lingering on me and trailing down my body quickly before she turned her attention back to the tables, a smile creeping up onto her face, making my heart flutter.

•••

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